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Reactions pour in after former President Donald Trump found guilty on all 34 felony charges

Trump was found guilty Thursday, marking a historic moment for a former president, who is also a front-runner in the 2024 presidential race.
Former President Donald Trump returns from a break in his criminal trial
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Reactions across the political world and beyond came pouring in Thursday after former President Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts against him in the New York hush money trial, becoming the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.

Outside the courthouse, relieved cheers were mixed with frustrated screams as "Trump 2024" and American flags waved among each other. And on social media, many stayed within party — or family — lines to express their thoughts, with Republicans mostly blaming Democrats and Democrats applauding the justice system for the verdict.

After Trump himself said the "real verdict" would come Nov. 5, calling himself a "very innocent man" who was found guilty only because of the Biden administration, his son, Donald Trump Jr. also blamed Democrats for the trial and its result, saying in a post on X, "The Democrats have succeeded in their years-long attempt to turn America into a third-world s***hole."

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to feel similarly, calling it a "shameful day in American history" and a "purely political exercise, not a legal one."

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz also called the trial a "sham," "nothing more than political persecution," "utterly fraudulent" and said it was only brought forth because "Democrats are terrified that he will win reelection."

And Trump's former opponent for the presidential nomination, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, echoed the claim of the Democratic Party's supposed ill intent, saying the rule of law "should be applied in a dispassionate, even-handed manner, not become captive to the political agenda of some kangaroo court."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan also used the term "kangaroo court" to describe what led to Tuesday's verdict, saying in a post on X that it shows "what happens when our justice system is weaponized by partisan prosecutors in front of a biased judge with an unfair process, designed to keep President Trump off the campaign trail and avoid bringing attention to President Biden’s failing radical policies."

Meanwhile, Democrats seemed to view it as an overall win for the country and its legal system, with the Biden-Harris campaign saying in a statement that the verdict showed "no one is above the law."

"Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain," the statement read. "But today's verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president."

In a post on X, President Biden wrote the same line about the ballot box and directed X users to his campaign's donation page.

Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell thought it a win for the country and its legal system, writing in a post on X, "This verdict is not a win for any single person. It's a win for an idea. The idea that we all follow the same rules. The rule of law won today."

As for political outliers, probably the most prominent currently is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., running as a third-party candidate to the presumptive GOP and Democratic nominees.

While at a press conference in Texas after the verdict, Kennedy said he believed the case would "end up helping President Trump" and likened the case to a Democratic Party tactic to "beat" Trump in court rather than on ballots. He referred to himself in a similar position, saying they're trying to keep him from debates and therefore eliminating him from ballots.

Hollywood jumped into the aftermath of reactions too, and from Luke Skywalker/Mark Hamill to Wonder Woman/Lynda Carter, most were celebratory.

Hamill's post on X just featured the word "GUILTY" multiple times, while Carter wrote, "34 is now my favorite number," referring to the number of guilty verdicts.

Actor Steven Weber took to Instagram to say the trial's end was "a reminder that democracy takes effort" and called out the Trump campaign and the candidate's party for how it handled the situation.

Kathy Griffin, who infamously suffered a career blow after posing with a fake severed head of Trump in 2017, said "TEARS OF JOY" in response to another X user who said, "You have been targeted by this thug, and he is finally getting in trouble for his mobster antics."